Lascuna, 43, carried over his fine form in the local tour to the Asian Tour event, hitting eight birdies against a lone bogey at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club West course to pool a nine-under 135 going to the weekend play.

He opened his campaign with a 70.

That gave him a spot in the final pairing on Saturday with Westwood, who followed an opening 65 with a 66 to open a four-shot lead over Lascuna and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts (69) in the Asian Tour and European Tour event that rewards close to half a million dollars to the winner.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect to shoot this score because this course is a very long golf course for me. My goal was to shoot one or two-under on each day but after nine holes I was five-under! It was amazing. I just continued my form from there,” Lascuna told the Asian Tour website.

"I was hitting it really good and close to the pin. After 17 holes I was like, Wow’. Maybe now I can aim for a pair of three-unders in the weekend,” said Lascuna.

Meanwhile, Spain's Pablo Larrazabal has been forced to dive into a water hazard to avoid attacking hornets during his second round.

Larrazabal jumped fully clothed into the water adjacent to the 14th green but not before suffering a number of hornet stings which required treatment.

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However he then resumed playing and was able to birdie the hole on his way to a 70. With reports from AP